1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheeting web consisting of foldable material, preferably paper or cardboard, for continuous packaging of a product, preferably a liquid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The process of packaging goods, preferably liquids, in prefabricated containers is known in the art. There is a need, however, to be able to package a product, particularly in liquid form, continuously. To this end, it is necessary to form the containers from a continuous sheeting web and then to singulate them.
In accordance with the present invention a container of this type can be achieved by means of a sheeting web, consisting of foldable material, preferably paper or cardboard, for continuous packaging of a product, preferably a liquid. The web includes parallel spaced longitudinal edges, four continuous longitudinal folds running parallel to the longitudinal edges, uniformly spaced continuous first transverse folds at right angles to the longitudinal edges, and continuous second transverse folds at a given distance from, and parallel to the first transverse folds, with the result that four contiguous rectangles in a transverse direction and a rectangular end strip connected to these are provided. Where one of and the next-but-one of these rectangles together with the rectangular end strip, each have a third transverse fold running parallel to the first transverse fold and equidistance from it and each have a fourth transverse fold running parallel to the second transverse fold and at the same distance as the third transverse fold from the first. The remaining two noncontiguous rectangles each have a central longitudinal fold located in the middle from all directions and which is shorter than the distance between the third and fourth transverse folds. Four four diagonal folds each extend from the two ends of the central longitudinal fold to the two nearest corners of the respective rectangle. Four inclined folds each extend from the two ends of the central longitudinal fold to the nearest intersection of the third and fourth transverse folds with the longitudinal folds in the other non-contaguous rectangles or the end strip.
To form a container or a continuous container chain the sheeting web is folded along the four continuous longitudinal folds parallel to the longitudinal edges resulting in the formation of a continuous sheeting tube of rectangular cross-section. The four contiguous rectangles in a transverse direction are then folded such that they form the link zones between two container zones. The folds within these four contiguous rectangles are configured such that two opposed container top zones adjacent to the appropriate container zones and one intermediate container base zone are formed.
Advantageous improvements are described in the dependent claims. In the preferred embodiment, the sheeting web consists of a first layer of a foldable material, preferably paper or cardboard, and of a second layer of a material, preferably aluminium or plastic, compatible with the product, preferably a liquid. The first layer is the external layer in the finished product, and the second the internal layer. The second layer, therefore, comes into contact with the container contents, i.e. the product to be packaged which is preferably a liquid.
In the preferred embodiment the first layer ends in the region of a longitudinal edge of the sheeting web at a given distance from this longitudinal edge and is folded over the second layer in this region. When the sheeting web is connected at its parallel longitudinal edges to form a sheeting tube of rectangular cross-section this configuration ensures that the container contents only come into contact with the second layer intended for this contact but not with the first.